Sheet feeding machine



p f 1939- H. T. BACKHOUSE 2,156,139

SHEET FEEDING MACHINE Filed Nov. 3, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. fit-gem) 75W/Y5E/YD 5190090035 40% m a: 1%|! f f/ $0 Y,

April 25, 1939. H. T. BACKHOUSE SHEET FEEDING MACHINE Filed Nov. 3, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 B Y Y Patented Apr. 251939 T V v UNITED STATES PATENT "OFFICE 2,156,139 SHEET FEEDING MACHINE Headlcy Townsend Backhouse, London, England Application November s, 1937, Serial No. 172551 In Great Britain November 1'7, 1936 6 Claims. (Cl. 271-27) This invention consists in improvements in or According to the present-invention an autorelating to automatic sheet feeding machines and matic sheet feeding machine comprises in comapplies especially, though not exclusively, to mabination sheet separating and forwarding mech-' chines of the type in which the operations of anism operative to raise the sheets successively separating and forwarding the sheets are effected and to move them towards their delivery posi- 5 either wholly or in part from the rear edge of a tion, and a smoother or smoothers each of which pile of sheets considered in the direction of moveserves to restrain or limit upward movements of ment of thesheets towards a press or other inechthe sheets as they are forwarded and which anism to which they are to be delivered, and in (smoother) itself movesforwardly with the sheets 10 which the sheets are fed successively in what may as the latter are fed in turn to their delivery 10 be termedastream of sheets conveniently, though position. By reason of the forward movements L: notrnecessarily, in a partially underlapping' forof the smoother the friction to which reference mation. An example of a machine of this type to has above been made as' having .a tendency to which the present invention is applicable is dedisturb or impede the forward movement of the scribed in my prior application for patent, Serial sheets, is eliminated. No. 738,500, filed August 4, 1934. The invention also includes an automatic sheet In such machines it is usual to employ an air feeding machine comprising in comb ion blast to assist in separating the sheets and formeans including an air blast for separating the warding them on to a feed board or conveyor. topmost sheet from the pile, means to grip and The air blast impinging beneath the rear edges feed the topmost sheet to its delivery position, 20

of the separated sheets gives them a tendencyto and a smoother or smoothers each of which serves billowup, and this tendency is commonly overto. restrain upward movement of the sheet during come by the use of smoothers consisting generally the forwarding movement of the gripping means of suitably shaped strips of metal or other mateand which is so constructed and actuated as to rial adjustably located above the pile of sheets in move forwardly with each successive sheet as it 25 such a position that the separated sheets, moving is fed towards the delivery position. towards the press -or other mechanism, pass be- In order that the invention may be more clearly neath the smoothers and are restrained by them understood some preferred examples will now be from billowing up under the influence of the air described with the aid of the accompanying 3 blast. In certaincases, particularlywherethefordrawings, in which' warding of the sheets is controlled entirely from Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a feeder embodythe rear edge of the pile the friction exerted by the ing the invention, only such essential parts of the fixed smoothers onthe surface of the sheets may mechanism as are necessary for" a complete be sufllcient to disturb or impede their forward understanding of the invention being shown. movement; and it is an object of the present in- Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are similar views of modificavention to overcome this drawback. tions.

The inventionis not limited to the case in- Fig. 5 is a timing diagram showing the move which separation of the sheets is efiected with the ments of the sheet handling suckers with relation aid of an air blast although it is particularly to the period of the air blast. 40 suitable in such circumstances. Referring first of all to Fig. 1, 10 represents a 40 r-nereinafter and in theappended claims where pile of sheets from which the uppermost sheets it is Stated that the sheets are moved towards are to be fed successively on to a feed roll II and their delivery positions this is to bepnder'stood .thence 1 a feed F Y by W i f a position to which the Sheets are the sheets are fed in success1on to a printing mo'vedbythe feeding means for any preferred gress othgr fi g Yi 'i g subsequent use. Generally, although not necese emp oye 6 par represen w a h i: usarilvhthis delivery position coincides with the zf gi gf gggs f as the dehvery 'cmmencemeni a feed ward by Above the feed roll H is a rail l3 parallel with 0 which the sheets'are passed to a i P118555 the feed roll and furnished with two depending and although in e followilie'description referarms 14 terminating at their lower ends clear of c may be m to such parts e invention is the feed board l2 in hooked portions l5. I to be understood as not necessarily limited in its Above what is to be considered-as the rear edge application to feeding paper sheets for use in a of the pile of sheets "I, that is to say the edge printing press.

reinote from the feed roll H, is anotherrail It as I to which are secured pipes ll terminating in suckers I 8. The rail I6 is traversed backwards and forwards in relation to the feed roll II in known manner and is also controlled for up and down movements in order that the suckers can be first lowered towards the topmost sheet which has been partially separated and lifted off of the pile until the sheet is gripped thereby, then the rail is moved bodily forward towards the feed roll so 10 that the topmost sheet is moved in the grip of the suckers to the feed roll and subsequently the suckers are actuated to release the sheet; the rail I6 is then slightly raised and is returned towards the rear edge of the sheet pile whereupon these movements are repeated.

As an alternative to the up and down movements of the rail IS the pipes I1 and suckers l8 may be arranged for a telescoping movement to effect raising and lowering of the suckers.

Smoothers I9 are provided of known pattern but instead of remaining stationary as before they are now each anchored at to an associated pipe I! by joints which permit them to move about an axis 2| parallel with the surface of the pile of sheets. The smoothers l9 can slide freely backwards and forwards in the hooks l5 so that;

in this manner the object of the invention is achieved in that the smoothers not only perform the function which they have performed hitherto but also move forwardly with the sheets as the latter are fed in turn to their .delivery position.

In an alternative form of the invention as shown in Fig. 2 the reciprocatingsmoothers I9 are replaced by a single smoother in the form of a sheet 22. This sheet may be of any preferred material, for example transparent material such as Celluloid, and is suspended at its rear edge from arms 23 which are secured at their upper ends to the rail l6 and are articulated at their lower extremities at 24 to provide swivel joints similar to those at 2ll of the previous construction. In this form of the invention the pull out or feed roll II is shown as having associated feed wheels 25 between which and the pull out roll the paper sheets are fed. In order to accommodate feedwheels 25 the sheet 22 is slotted at 26 inwardly from the forward edge thereof. In this case the front edge of the smoother is not suspended from a rail such as I3, and the weight of the sheet-like smoother maintains the forward edge in its requisite position relatively to the sheets. The parts I! and I8 are similar to the correspondingly numbered parts in Fig. 1. v

In either form of the invention thusfar described, the forward ends of the smoothers, instead of merely sliding over supports of fixed height may be pivoted to links swinging in vertical longitudinal planes.

In a further alternative form of the invention asillustrated in Fig. 3 the parts ll, l2, l3, l6, I1 and I8 are arranged similarly to the corresponding parts in Fig. 1 and from therail l3 depend arms H which, however, differ from the correspondingly numbered arms in Fig. l in that at their lower extremities they support spring drums 21. The smoothers now take the form of spaced flexible bands 28 leading from connections 20 on the pipes I! to the spring drums 21, the springs of which tend at all times towind up the bandsso .that as the rail I6 is approached towards the tan is the bands ,will be wound up onthe drums. In operation with each forward-stroke of the forwarding mechanism l6, l1, '|8 ,'--the bands 28 are brought in by the spring winding mechanism and thereby constitute smoothers which move .in the forwarding movement. As soon as the forwardly with the sheets as they are fed to their delivery position. On the return movement of the rail IS the bands 28 are drawn outwardly and in so doing wind up the springs in the drums 21. 5 In each example a pipe 29 terminating in a nozzle 30 is illustrated and serves the purpose of supplying an air blast to the rear edgeof the pileof sheets for the purpose already described: Suitable means, well understood in the art, are 10 employed for moving the nozzle 30 into and out of position so that it will not be in the way when the rear edge of a sheet is being lifted from the pile. The blast of air delivered by the nozzle is' interrupted intermittently. While the timing of 15 the air blast may be varied to suit conditions, I prefer to so regulate it that no winding of the. sheet occurs during the time that the sheet separating and lifting means are functioning and the suckers it are returning to their initial position 20 after delivering a sheet. It is within the invention to modify the mechanism so that the rail I6 is only controlled for backward and forward movement and does not receive an up and down movement, in which case 25 the smoothers will remain constantly at any suitable height' above the pile of sheets that may be desired; and this height may be made adjustable by sliding the pipes H in adjustabl holders 3| carried on the rail l6. 30 I drums 21 of Fig. 3 may be replaced by endless 3 bands 32 passing over rollers 33 carried by the arms l4 and additional arms 34 positioned near the rear edge of the sheet pile I 0 and depending 45 from a fixed rail 35. Means, not illustrated, may

be provided in such an arrangement for rotating the bands 32 continuously or intermittently sothat the lower laps of the bands move in the feed direction of the sheets 10. 50

In Fig. 5 the divisions of the-outer ring 36 indicate the movements of the suckers l8, reading in the direction of the arrow. The inner sector 31 indicates the period of activity of the air blast with respect to the timing of the cycle of move- 55 ments of the suckers i8. More or less variatiq'n is permissible, but as will be obvious to those skilled in the art it is essential that the air blast be turned on after the suckers have taken the sheet, which they do. during their back dwell. 60 It is desirable also that the blast be turned on before the suckers begin their forward movement because, as heretofore stated, the air blast assists forwarding movement of the sheet is completed and its front edge is taken by the pull out rollers Hand 25 there is obviously no occasion for further winding of that particular sheet, and the air blast is turned off at approximately that time as 70 the diagram shows. The fact that the air'blast' isoff during the return movement of the suckers and smoothers facilitates that movement. If the H air blast were continued during the return movement of the smoothers, their movement would produce a rearward drag upon the sheets of the stream.

The invention is not limited to the precise form of sheet feeding machine which has been illustrated in its simplest essentials in the accom- I panying drawings. It may, for example, include combers and additional suckers as described'in the prior application already referred to, and may have also any other parts usual in sheet feeding machines or desirable in such machines in addition to the smoothers constituting the main feature of the present invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In mechanism for feeding sheets to a prlnt ing press or other sheet handling machine of the type in which means are provided for separating and lifting rear portions of the uppermost sheet and forwarding the sheet to advance its front edge to delivery position, and in which. means are provided for winding the uppermost sheet after its said rear portions are separated from the pile, a smoother arranged above the pile extending in the direction of movement of the sheets, and means for causing said smoother to travel forward during the forward travel of the sheet.

2. In mechanism for feeding sheets to a printing press or other sheet handling machine of the type in which means are provided for separating and lifting rear portions of the uppermost sheet and forwarding the sheet to advance its front edge to delivery position, and in which means are provided for winding the uppermost sheet after its said rear portions are separated from the pile, a smoother arranged above the pile extending in the direction of movement of the sheets, said smoother having a reciprocating movement backward and forward in the direction of sheet travel and being operatively associated with the sheet forwarding means to move forwardly and backwardly therewith.

3. In mechanism for feeding sheets from the top of' a pile to a printing press or other sheet handling machine of the type in which means are provided for separating and lifting rear portions of theuppermost sheet and forwarding the sheet by said portions to advance its front edge to delivery position, and in which means are provided for winding the uppermost sheet after its said rear portions are. separated from the pile, a smoother arranged above the pile, the rear end of the smoother being articulated to the sheet forwarding means, and supporting means for the forward end of the smoother permitting movement of the latter in a forward and backward direction, whereby the smoother moves forward with the sheet at the same speed as thesheet during the travel of the latter toward its delivery position.

4. In mechanism for feeding sheets from the top of a pile to a printing press or other sheet handling machine of the type in which means are provided for separating, lifting, winding and forwarding the uppermost sheet comprising suckers arranged to grip the sheet and to move it forward. toward sheet delivery position and then to return for the next sheets a plurality of elongated smoothers operatively connected with the said suckers extending forwardly therefrom in the direction of sheet travel, and means for guiding the forward ends of said smoothers, whereby the latter travel forwardly with the sheet to its delivery position and return with the suckers against the direction of sheet travel after the sheet is in the delivery posiiton.

5. In mechanism for feeding sheets from the top of a pile toa printing press or other sheet handling machine of the type in which means are provided for separating, lifting, windingiand forwarding the uppermost sheet comprising suckers arranged to grip the sheet and to move it forward toward sheet delivery position and then to return for the next sheet, a plurality of elongated smoothers operatively connected with the said suckers extending forwardly therefrom in the direction of sheet travel, means for guiding the forward ends of said smoothers, whereby the latter travel forwardly with the sheet to its delivery position and return with the suckers against the direction of sheet travel after the sheet is in the delivery position, the operation of the winding means being interrupted during the rearward movement of the suckers and smoothers.

6. In mechanism for stream feeding sheets from the top of a pile to a printing press or other sheet handling machine of the type in which means are provided for separating, lifting, winding and forwarding the uppermost sheet comprising suckers arranged to grip a rear portion of the sheet and to move it forward a distance equal to a fraction of its length beneath the next preceding sheet, pull out means through which the stream of sheets is caused to travel, said pull out means being arranged to grasp the forward edge .of each sheet in turn as it is delivered by the forwarding suckers, a smoother moimted above the pile with which the stream of sheets engage while winded during their forward travel to the pull out means, and means for moving said smoother forward during the forward travel of each uppermost sheet to said pull out means.

mm 'rownsam'a ascxnousn. 

